And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Ver. 31. Behold it was very good.] Or, extreme good, pleasant and profitable, a curious and glorious frame, full of admirable variety and skill, such as caused delight and complacency in God, and commands contemplation and admiration from us, like as a great garden, stored with fruits and flowers, calls our eyes on every side. Wherefore else hath God given us a reasonable soul, and a Sabbath day, and a countenance bent upward, and, as they say, a peculiar nerves in the eyes, to pull them up toward the seat of their rest? Besides a nature carried with delight after plays, pageants, masks, strange shows, and rare sights, which oft are sinful or vain, or, at best, imperfect and unsatisfactory? Surely those that "regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, God shall destroy, and not build them up"; Psa 28:5 which to prevent, good is the counsel of the prophet Amos; and that upon this very ground, "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel: for lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind," &c. Amo 4:12-13 When he had made man, he made an end of making anything more, because he meant to rest in man, to delight in him, to communicate himself unto him, and to be enjoyed by him throughout all eternity. And notwithstanding the fall, he hath "found a ransom," Job 33:24 and "creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works," Eph 2:10 he "rejoiceth over" his new workmanship "with joy"; yea, he "rests in his love," and wilt seek no further Zep 3:17 But what a mouth of madness did Alfonso b the Wise open, when he said openly, that if he had been of God's counsel at the creation, some things should have been better made and marshalled! Prodigious blasphemy!
a Bodin. Theat. Naturae.
b Roderit. Santii. Hist. Hisp. p. 4. c. 5. ex antiq. Annanlib.